Leaked data shows surveillance net in Elgar Parishad case

Leaked data has revealed a surveillance net in the Elgar Parishad case might have crossed a line a report in The Wire saidThe families of activists figure on a leaked list of numbers that included some selected for surveillance by a client of Israels NSO GroupA review of the leaked database by The Wire and partner news organisations shows that at least nine numbers belonged to eight activists lawyers and academics arrested between June 2018 and October 2020 for their supposed role in the Elgar Parishad caseOthers who are on the list besides Wilson and Hany Babu from the Elgar Parishad case include rights activist Vernon Gonsalves academic and civil liberties activist Anand Teltumbde retired professor Shoma Sen her number is first selected in 2017 journalist and rights activist Gautam Navlakha lawyer Arun Ferreira and academic and activist Sudha BharadwajSixteen activists lawyers and academics from across India have been arrested in the case since 2018Also Read Govt officials Opposition politicians activists part of snooping list in IndiaThe Francebased media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty Internationals Security Lab had access to these records which they shared with The Wire and 15 other news organisations worldwide as part of a collaborative investigation and reporting projectBesides those directly accused in the Elgar Parishad case nearly a dozen more numbers belonging to close relatives friends lawyers and colleagues of those arrested also appear to have been of interestThe Wire has verified the numbers and identities of those using them Most were interrogated by the Pune police and later by the NIA between 2018 and 2020The leaked records also include the numbers of Telugu poet and writer Varavara Raos daughter Pavana lawyer Surendra Gadlings wife Minal Gadling his associate lawyers Nihalsingh Rathod and Jagadish Meshram one of his former clients Maruti Kurwatkar who was charged in multiple cases under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA incarcerated for over four years and later released on bail Bharadwajs lawyer Shalini Gera Teltumbdes friend Jaison Cooper a Keralabased rights activist scholar of the Naxalite movement and Bastarbased lawyer Bela Bhatia one of the oldest members of the Kabir Kala Manch cultural group Rupali Jadhav and tribal rights activist Mahesh Rauts close associate and lawyer Lalsu NagotiThe list also includes as many as five family members of one of the Elgar Parishad accusedIt is unclear if the attacker had managed to gain access to their phonesThe Wire said the addition of numbers in most cases began mid2018 and continued for some monthsAlso Read Pegasus Tapes Explosive details emerge on massive snooping by governmentsIn some cases the phones were chosen as targets during dates which correlate with significant events in the Elgar Parishad case For instance the data shows that Pavanas phone appears first in the records around the time her father Varavara Rao following a Supreme Court order was placed under house arrestEightyyearold Rao after spending close to 27 months in prison was released on conditional bail in February this yearIn the cases of Bharadwaj Gonsalves Sen and Ferreira the data shows that their phone numbers continued to show up in the leaked data even months after their phones were seized and they were arrestedAmong other witnesses examined in the case who also find mention on the list include tribal rights activist from Bastar Soni Sori her nephew and journalist Lingaram Kodopi Bharadwajs close legal associate Ankit Grewal lawyer anticaste activist and Chhattisgarh state president of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties PUCL Degree Prasad Chouhan and assistant professor at the Sri Ram College of Commerce Rakesh RanjanThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever